


Lighten Up

by siamesedaydream



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Gay, LGBT, M/M, One Shot, joshdun, joshler - Freeform, tylerjoseph
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 00:05:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15960446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siamesedaydream/pseuds/siamesedaydream
Summary: Tyler's distanced himself from Josh lately, who decides the best way to get his attention is to remind him of the past.





	Lighten Up

**|| Normal text- Present ||**   
**|| _Italics- Past_ ||**

 

Tyler groans and pushes Josh away as he kisses his neck and wraps his arms around him.

He turns around in the office chair to where Josh is standing rather unimpressed.

"I'm working on our loans Josh. Not now", he sighs before turning back around. "You're always saying that", Josh replies.

Tyler pulls an extremely frustrated face before turning around to him with a monotone expression. "I am not", he reasons.

"All you do is work Ty", Josh sighs, sitting down. "You work more hours than me", he persists.

"Yeah. We go to college together, then we go to work. I work more hours than you and I come home and you're doing student loans or something. All night", Josh frowns.

"So?" Tyler asks. "You don't even make time for me", he says quietly, looking down at his hands.

"Josh......" he drags on before realising he's right.

"I-I'm just stressed out okay? We don't exactly have that much money and I have to make sure that we're okay.

We'll do something later but I need to do this now", he finishes, turning back around to their desk and picking up a pen.

"No, no you need to stop", Josh raises his voice, getting off the bed and grabbing Tyler.

"What are you doing?!" he shrieks as he's pulled off of the chair and into his arms. "We're going for a walk", Josh replies, dragging him out of their apartment and outside.

"O-okay you can stop dragging me now", Tyler says rather angrily. Josh lets go and he huffs, going into step with him.

"I was busy Josh", he scowls. "Lighten up. It's a beautiful night. When's the last time we went for a walk together?" he asks.

Tyler can't reply to a question he doesn't know the answer to so he just shrugs, "Where are we going?"

"Does it matter?" Josh replies. He shakes his head, "I suppose not".

Josh was right. It was a beautiful summer night. It was at least 10pm and it still wasn't completely dark.

Josh takes Tyler's' hand for the first time in far too long and Tyler leans his head lightly against his shoulder.

"Here we are", he says eventually. Tyler looks at the fence that borders the forest.

"What?" he asks confusedly. "Jump", Josh says without any other warning, helping him over.

He hears a thump and grunt from the other side and giggles before jumping over himself, landing on his feet beside a grumpy Tyler who was still sitting on the ground.

"Get up you dork", he smiles, dragging him up to his feet. "Why are we here?" he asks as Josh leads them through the trees with his phone's flash.

"Because I felt like it", he responds. After a few minutes Josh stops and points the flash up.

"Oh my god", Tyler exclaims, looking up. Suddenly, he can't help but smile and then he can't help but laugh, hugging his boyfriend fondly.

"C'mon", he smiles, climbing up into their treehouse. "We haven't been in here since", "Last year of school", Tyler finishes.

"That's almost three years", Josh sighs as he turns on the three battery powered lamps.

"Remember building this?" he asks, laughing. "Of course I do!" Tyler exclaims. Despite them being 14 at the time, he remembered it like it was yesterday.

 

•

 

_"Josh I don't know if we should be doing this. Are we even allowed to make stuff here?" Tyler asks worriedly._

_"Lighten up and stop being a wimp. It'll be so cool!" Josh beams. "I'm not a wimp!" he protests._

_"Prove it then", Josh teases. "Fine. I'll help", he scowls, picking up some of the short wooden planks they'd brought with them._

_He starts to nail the short planks the tree's trunk while Josh climbs the tree, cutting down some branches with a saw he stole from his Dad's shed._

_There's a scream and he looks up quickly to see Josh hanging from a branch, desperately clinging onto it with two hands._

_"Oh my god!" Tyler yells in a panic. "I'm going to die, I don't deserve this", he wails. "Just jump!" Tyler laughs, recovering from his sudden panic._

_"Just jump!? I'm so high up!" he gasps. "No you're not! It's only a few meters. I'll catch you", Tyler promises._

_"I-I don't know if- holy mother of god", he yells as one hand slips. "Just let go!" he groans impatiently._

_"I'm too heavy! You'll drop me", Josh insists. " Trust me please!" he pleads._

_"If I, actually, when I die you can have all of my CDs and I give you custody of my Tamagotchi", Josh yells before letting go of the branch._

_He was wrong of course, and Tyler catches him despite falling to the ground under his weight._

_He laughs lightly, looking down at Tyler who was glaring at him._

_"Lighten up", Josh smiles, pinching one of his cheeks. Tyler can't help it and he breaks into a grin, laughing._

_When he finishes they stare at each other for a while before Tyler clears his throat. "Uh, you're sort of still lying on me", he blushes._

_"Y-yeah. Sorry", Josh stutters, getting up and brushing leaves off of his clothes, Tyler soon following._

 

•

 

"The mattress looks as good as it used to", Josh winks. "You dork", Tyler laughs, hitting him playfully before looking at the walls.

"The paint is starting to peel", Tyler sighs, running a hand over the ragged surface.

"Lighten up. Besides, we could fix it up one day", Josh suggests, wrapping his arms around him from behind.

"I'd like that", he smiles as he kisses the side of his neck. "The boom-box is still here", Josh laughs as he sways them both over to it.

Tyler turns it on and clicks play, laughing as Radiohead begins to play quietly.

 

•

 

_Music plays from Tyler's portable boom-box as they both paint the inside of the tree house's room._

_"I still think we should paint it one colour", Tyler sighs, rolling more black paint onto the roof._

_"Nah this'll be heaps cool!" Josh laughs as he paints more red zig zags._

_"Nah this'll be heaps cool!" he imitates under his breath. "Pardon?" Josh asks. "I didn't say anything!" he laughs. Josh looks over unsurely before going back to painting._

_"Ty what's wrong?" he asks eventually, walking over. "Nothing", he groans._

_"Tyler what's wrong?" he asks more slowly this time. "Nothing!" he insists. "Lighten up. You're such a grump!" Josh giggles._

_"I-I am not!" he yells. Josh rolls his eyes and Tyler furiously takes a white paintbrush, flicking paint at him._

_Josh laughs, not picking up on his seriousness as he flicks red paint at him._

_"Oh my god you're going to get it so bad!" Tyler laughs as they have a paint war, throwing paint at each other and all over the walls._

_Soon they're both out of breath and laughing so hard that they need to sit down._

_"This room is a total mess!" Tyler laughs as they look at the red, black and white paint splattered all over the room._

_"I think I'm the total mess right now!" Josh grins, looking over at Tyler who was also covered in paint._

_"No you always look gorgeous", Tyler replies, instantly regretting everything that'd come out of his mouth as his own expression falls._

_"I-I mean to a girl of course, n-not to me, I mean", he stutters, breath hitching as Josh moves closer, moving one hand to the side of his face, smudging red paint into his skin._

_"You always look gorgeous too", he replies, leaning closer. Tyler closes his eyes as Josh brushes his lips over his softly._

_By the time he opens his eyes again, Josh is already looking at him and he blushes furiously._

_"I-I'm sorry", he exclaims, standing up. "No, no it's okay!" Tyler quickly rushes out, sitting up with him._

_Josh just leans against the wall and looks down ashamedly._

_"Did you want to uh, do that again?" Tyler asks chewing on his bottom lip. Josh turns to him, lifting an eyebrow._

_With a sudden confidence, Tyler gets up and with one hand on each side of his head, kisses him. Josh can't help but smile into the kiss._

 

•

 

"I can't get it", Tyler sighs in defeat, stepping away from the latch. "I'll try", Josh shrugs, reaching up to pull on it.

"We didn't do the roof for a while hey?" Tyler asks rather than states. "We did it about a year after we finished building and decorating the room", he grunts, tugging at the latch again.

Tyler sits down and watches him, absentmindedly playing with his shoelaces.

"Here we go", Josh smiles as he finally manages to break the latch to the door at the top of the roof. "I wonder what happened to the key", Tyler sighs.

Josh just shrugs as he pulls down the ladder. "After you", he dramatises, bowing. Tyler rolls his eyes and climbs up to the roof.

"God it's completely dark. I can't see a thing", he groans, squinting his eyes. He screams as someone grabs his waist.

"Shh baby", Josh laughs, pulling him closer. "You scared me", he scowls. "Lighten up", Tyler teases, kissing him softly.

"Are there lights up here?" Tyler asks as he pulls away. "Yeah. You picked them out remember?" he replies.

 

•

 

_"Josh. Those are so stupid!" Tyler groans. Josh frowns, looking down at the colourful led bulb lights he'd picked._

_"But they're so pretty", he smiles, hanging them around Josh's shoulders. "Yeah. That's because they're on me", he smirks._

_Josh rolls his eyes and takes them off. "I guess you're right. You pick the lights then", he smirks, tossing the lights back into the box._

_"Do you need some help over here?" a worker asks, walking over. "No thanks, we're good", Josh replies._

_"Okay. As long as you're sure she replies, staring at him far too long for Tyler's liking before walking off. "I don't like her", he scowls._

_"It's okay babe you know I'm not interested", Josh smiles, kissing him on the forehead, "Especially when I have you"._

_Tyler blushes and he's met with giggles as Josh pulls him closer, "Just pick some lights okay?" he smiles._

_"These ones", Tyler decides eventually, pulling out some white Christmas lights. "Whatever you'd like hun", Josh smiles._

_"I uh. They're tangled", he laughs, pulling out the lights completely to find them tangled within a set of red lights._

_"Here let me help", Josh laughs along, helping to untangle the lights. After a few minutes they grow impatient, grunting and giving up._

_"Why don't we just get both?" Josh suggests. "I guess we could. Then we'll untangle them later", Tyler sighs in annoyance._

_"See. Not so bad", he smiles. "I guess so", Tyler frowns. Josh rolls his eyes and tugs on the lights, sending him against his chest._

_He looks up, blushing lightly. "Lighten up", Tyler smiles, kissing him softly._

 

•

 

Red and white light brightens the roof as Josh turns them on. "$5 battery powered Christmas lights work longer than people think I guess", he grins.

"I guess you're right", Tyler smiles, looking around the area. "Still have the chairs nailed in", he laughs, sitting down on one of them.

Josh just nods, sitting down next to him. "We really need to talk", he frowns. "I know", Tyler sighs.

"I miss you", Josh says. "I know. I just. I'm sorry", Tyler sobs, wrapping his arms around him.

"I'm just trying so hard for us to be happy but I'm not making things better and I-I don't work enough for us and I'm just making everything worse by not making time for you and-and I can't", he cries into Josh's shirt, letting it all out.

"Baby it's not all about the money. We don't need money to be happy. I just want you back. I love you so much and I need you", Josh comforts.

"I love you too. Fuck, I love you so much", Tyler sobs. Josh tilts his chin up, smiling comfortingly.

"Lighten up", he whispers before pressing their lips together softly. Tyler moves his hands to the back of his neck, deepening the kiss.

Their lips mould together heatedly as Josh pulls him into his lap. He breaks the kiss first, gasping for breath as Josh moves to kiss at his neck.

"J-Josh. Mattress", he moans as he grinds down into his lap. He gets up and follows Josh, jumping back into the main room.

Josh grabs him as soon as he lands, pulling him against his chest. He laughs, kissing him playfully, hands on his waist.

"C'mon you", Josh laughs, lifting Tyler off the ground. He giggles as he's lifted and laid down on the mattress.

"It's like we're seventeen all over again", Josh smiles, removing his shirt and tossing it to the side.

"I always hated these sheets that you picked out", Tyler admits, ignoring his statement as Josh hovers over him.

He laughs, shaking his head before leaning down to kiss him again.

 

•

 

_Josh breaks away from the kiss, looking up at Tyler anxiously from the mattress. "Do you trust me?" he asks._

_"Yes", Tyler replies, running his hands under Josh's shirt and down his waist._

_"I need to hear you say it sweetheart", he insists. "I trust you", Tyler smiles shyly, looking away._

_Josh moves his head back so they're facing each other properly and smiles. Bates breaks into a grin, unable to ignore him._

_"So uh. How do you want to do this?" he asks awkwardly. "Uh. Under the covers?" Tyler suggests unsurely, suddenly feeling extremely vulnerable and self-conscious._

_"Okay. If you'd like", Josh smiles. "I love you", Tyler sighs as he wraps his arms around him. "I love you too", Josh grins._

_There, in Josh's strong, muscular arms, Tyler felt safe._

_As Josh pulled the sheets over them and playfully kissed him on the forehead, he knew he'd finally done something right._

 

•

 

"I always told you you were gorgeous", Tyler smiles, moving some of Josh's hair away from his sweaty forehead.

"I always told you you were more gorgeous", Josh replies, moving his hands to his bare hips.

"I always told you you were wrong", Tyler smirks. "I always told you that I'm smarter than you", Josh replies smugly.

Josh  just laughs, running a hand through his hair and kissing him. "We're going to be late to class tomorrow", Josh sighs.

"Lighten up", Tyler smiles sleepily, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him closer.


End file.
